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Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability

Trees and buildings on OU's campus, with a blue sky and white clouds in the background and a fountain and benches in the foreground.

The Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability

Our mission is to conduct innovative and socially relevant research; to expand students’ intellectual vistas via critical perspectives and valuable tools and skills; and to catalyze sustainable human-natural systems.

We seek to shape a sustainable future for Oklahoma and beyond by creating a community of interdisciplinary scholars and leaders who aim to comprehend the Earth’s human-natural systems.

 

Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability logo.
 

#1

Regionally in
Sustainability
Education

 

3

Specialized
research
clusters

 

9:1

Focused
Student-to-faculty
ratio

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Degree Options

Environmental sustainability with a landscape with windmills in a field.

Environmental Sustainability addresses how societies can meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The degree offers three different areas of concentration: culture and society, planning and management, and science and natural resources.

Geography with a landscape of a rocky coastline along the ocean.

Geography is an integrative field that studies people and the world in which they live and the discipline consists of two primary fields: human geography and physical geography. Both of these disciplines use GIS technologies and other analytical tools such as statistics, modeling and qualitative approaches.

Geographic Information Sciences with a map of Oklahoma in the backround.

Geographic Information Science is one of the most rapidly expanding areas of study and employment in the U.S. addresses how geographic information systems and remote sensing (aerial photography and satellite imagery) are used for gathering, analyzing and visualizing all forms of geographically referenced information.

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Launch your career by studying Geography at The University of Oklahoma!

Find your Future

Find the Bachelor's degree that's meant for you

Take your education to the next level

Find out why our research enterprise is like no other

See all the opportunities a path at DGES can offer

DGES Upcoming Events

People riding on a tandem bike, Green Weekend Bike Ride, Reaves Park, Saturday, November 18 @ 12 PM, Green Week flyer.
Green Weekend Bike Event

As part of Green Weekend from 11/16 through 11/18, Green Week will be taking a bike ride after a group picnic back to campus. This will be leisurely and not over-exerting, as Green Week wants their attendees to enjoy themselves! Some bikes will be provided by Veo, but please bring your own if possible.

GIS Day at OU, Thursday, November 16, 10 AM - 3 PM, Oklahoma Memorial Union, 900 Asp Ave, Norman, OK 73019.
2023 GIS Day

OU's 2023 GIS Day is Thursday, November 16th! 2023 GIS Day will include an undergraduate and graduate poster competition, a storymaps competition, networking, vendors, door prizes, a happy hour, and more.

DGES Calendar Events


DGES News

Students underground in a cave.
Intro to Physical Geography Class Field Trip

DGES Ph.D. student Trey Lee led his Intro to Physical Geography students on a cave exploration field trip! Students worked together and overcame fears in this outdoor adventure.

Adeline Miller holding an award certificate with Todd Fagin.
Adeline Miller Places Second on GIS Day Undergraduate Poster Competition

DGES student, Adeline Miller, places second in the 2023 GIS Day Undergraduate Poster Competition. Her poster was titled "The Keeper Movement and Water Policy" and entailed water keeper groups' effect on local and national water policy.

Nishan Bhattarai.
Nishan Bhattarai published in Science Advances Journal

Nishan Bhattarai's article titled "Warming temperatures exacerbate groundwater depletion rates in India" published in Science Advances.

Read the article here


College Calendar

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